(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mechanism for accepting customer deposits. More specifically, the invention relates to an automated depositor which can receive customer deposits of bundles of cash and/or checks of widely varying thicknesses and with reduced maintenance.
(2) Related Art
Automated depositors have been widely used in the banking industry for many years. Depositors are typically incorporated into automatic teller machines (ATMs), which provide other after hours banking services in addition to those provided by the depositor. Prior art depositors typically have a front gate which covers a deposit receiving opening or mouth of the depositor. The gate is typically driven by a solenoid which, in turn, is activated responsive to the deposit request by a customer. When the gate opens, it exposes through the opening an upper and lower plate, one of which typically includes a drive belt which frictionally engages the envelope to be deposited. The plate with drive belt is typically fixed within the depositor and does not move regardless of the thickness of the envelope, e.g., the deposit, being deposited. The other plate typically floats so as to maintain pressure between itself and the envelope and, therefore, the drive belt and the envelope. In such case, the floating plate is smooth so as to reduce the probability of a jam caused by the envelope sticking on the floating plate.
The maximum float of the floating plate has typically been about one quarter inch. Thus, these prior art depositors typically only accommodated deposit envelopes having a maximum thickness of about a quarter of an inch. This is a major shortcoming in view of the fact that the deposits of many customers, particularly businesses, are typically in the range of a quarter of an inch to one inch. Moreover, it is often not convenient for businesses to make their deposits during normal banking hours, nor is it convenient for them to have to split the deposits into multiple deposits of a quarter inch or less in order to complete the daily deposits outside of banking hours.
Prior art depositors also include printing devices such as a dot matrix printer or an inkjet printhead disposed within the depositor to allow printing on the envelope being deposited. This allows the bank to identify the deposit by an account number and conduct the transaction with minimal employee time. The printing is particularly important as physical deposit slips with account numbers are typically no longer included with the deposit. The print mechanisms suffer a number of problems. Residual ink often clogs the jetports of the inkjet printer and results in illegible printing. In some cases, the printer could not process the data or print it during the limited exposure as the envelope is driven under the printhead. Either case results in wasted employee time matching an account to the items being deposited.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to develop a depositor that accommodates a broader range of deposit thicknesses within improved printing reliability.
A depositor accommodating thick deposits is disclosed. A pair of plates each having a transport mechanism disposed as part thereof are coupled to a housing so as to abut each other, one above the other, in a rest position. A drive shaft for the transport mechanisms of the upper and lower plates are rotatably coupled to the housing and define an axis of rotation for each plate. The drive shaft for the top plate is disposed at an opposite end from the drive shaft of the bottom plate. A free end of each plate, the end opposite the drive shaft, is elastically coupled to the housing. This allows a substantially thicker deposit envelope to be accepted than was possible with prior systems.